1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head-protecting airbag apparatus that includes an airbag for deployment over a vehicle window and a case that houses the airbag, in which the airbag is folded up in such a manner that its lower rim is brought close to its upper rim and the case is fabricated of synthetic resin and has an inverse U-shaped sectional contour opening downward, in an on-board state.
2. Description of Related Art
In this kind of head-protecting airbag apparatuses, it is known, as disclosed in JP 2008-184056, that an airbag, which is so folded up that its lower rim is brought close to its upper rim, is housed in a case of synthetic resin in consideration of protection of the airbag before and after the mounting on a vehicle and of convenience in handling, e.g., in transportation. The case has an inverse U-shaped sectional contour opening downward, in an on-board state. The airbag includes along the upper rim a plurality of mounting portions projecting upward. The mounting portions are taken out of the case and fastened to a vehicle body structure along an upper rim of and along a front and rear direction of a window of the vehicle, thereby the airbag is mounted on the vehicle together with the case.
In this conventional head-protecting airbag apparatus, the housing work of the airbag in the case must be conducted carefully, because the airbag can sometimes be housed in a case as it is twisted between the mounting portions. However, it takes a lot of man-hours to house the folded-up airbag while taking out the mounting portions one by one.